Life as an Internet Policeman. 7,690 An Adventurer turns policeman. (standard:fantasy, 7213 words)
Author: Oscar A Rat	Added: Jun 15 2020	Views/Reads: 1493/1051	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Joey wanders the vast reaches of cyberspace with his imaginary camel, Tomas. Him rescuing a female policewoman, the two wander through purple plains until finding Little Joe at the Ponderosa ranch.

Joey Edwards rode his fantasy camel, Toma, across endless purple plains
of cyberspace.  He didn't have a router* with him, believing they were 
too restrictive.  As a child back in the physical world he had noticed 
how different he was from his contemporaries.  His instructors couldn't 
keep little Joey in one place.  He'd wander off on his own, not knowing 
or caring where he was headed or ended up. 

Joey was born with an urge to find out what was over the next hill, on
the other side of a fence, behind that other building.  So he would 
walk over to see, often getting lost or into trouble. 

As an adult in cyberspace, he had his wish.  A router would only limit
him, just the knowing that he could leave a place if in danger.  ( 
*Since Cyberspace is so vast, computer-coded routers are like GPS 
systems.  They teleport a person between ”anchors” which are used to 
stabilize communities.  ) 

Lost?  He preferred being lost. Free as a breeze?  Hell, no.  Joey
wanted to be freer than that.  Breezes had to follow a pattern 
determined by other forces, not free enough for him. 

Toma was his own fantasy steed, the kind of camel every wanderer should
have.  Stopping to rest under a purple palm tree, Joey lifted a flap 
under Toma's tail to expose a solid gold spigot, letting a stream of 
ice-water dribble down his throat. 

Going back to his camel's left side, he opened a panel on the animal
and, displaying a portable bar, poured himself a drink of sake.  A few 
ice cubes from a dispenser and he was ready to lie under the tree to 
rest. 

Joey closed his eyes and slept while an alert Toma kept watch. 

"Joey, wake up." 

He opened his eyes, sleepily looking up at Toma's snout. 

"Wha'?  Why you wake me?" 

"Look. Up in the sky, a comet or something." 

Over Toma's shoulder, Joey could see a streak of light.  Even as he
watched, it became brighter and seemed to hit the ground over a slight 
hill to his left.  Joey scrambled up.  He was more into traveling than 
excitement, not really an adventurer -- but he had to see what that 
thing was.  Jumping onto Toma's back, they sped over the hill, 
excitement building in his breast. 

It was the remains of an autoprobe, wrecked computer-coding spread over
the purple landscape.  ( Autoprobes are either hard-coded or imagined 
vehicles used to travel in Cyberspace.  Hard-coding is much better and 
more detailed, but expensive and a skill not everyone has mastered.  
They bypass imagination. 

Imagined articles can be only as complex as a citizen's imagination.  An
imagined autoprobe, for instance might have no details in the engine or 
controls.  A person who had never rode in one would have no idea how to 
imagine its interior workings, making its use impossible.  Some 
citizens have more imagination than others. Police typically used 
expensive hard-coded transportation, ) 

When they reached the smoking wreckage, which was all that was left,
Joey jumped down and began looking for survivors.  He didn't notice the 
Internet Police insignia on its crumpled side. 

A low whimper led him to jerk at a heavy panel.  He managed to shift it
enough to see a grasping human hand. 

"Toma, set up the medical equipment ... and hurry." 

By the time he found a woman, covered with blood and her left leg almost
severed at the knee, Toma had their medical supplies out and was 
setting up a portable tent. 

Joey put a tourniquet on her, above the shattered knee.  As he did, the


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