Welcome to my own private Idaho, my second life and my hope. My name is Lexi Mabel Lancer but call me Doc Maverick, everyone does. I’m a government licensed spiritual consultant working out of Desert Dome 4 in central Australia.
I grew up over in Old Manhattan but got shut out of that scene after the re-engineering plagues ravaged the city. The government couldn’t afford energy beans for citizens, let alone my salary. When the sea levels started encroaching on coastal regions, and power to the city shields was dropping by the day, I paid my buddy, Charlie Applegate, to ship me and my Father out. He was a big investor in biotech futures back when they were really getting started in the mid-2010s so he had the wherewithal to set us up far, far away. Makes it sound like we had some choice in the whole thing. Bastard dumped us out here, more like it. I paid him 10K in credit chips, all I had, and what do we get? Thirsty kangaroos, mongrel dogs and desert far as the eye can see.
Sure, the dome’s not in such a bad state but it’s not Old Manhattan. I grew up on the Upper East Side – 60th and York. We’re not exactly talking limited options here. I have a doctorate from Columbia but what does that mean out here? I’m doing good for the folks here, though, and that’s something. So much that could be done but so few resources. This is the end of the earth for all intents and purposes, not that I’d be better off in the city. Things get worse there by the day but out here we have time, and plenty of it. At least everyone I’m in contact with here has an above average immunity level, not that any Plaguers could get passed dome security anyway and good luck finding it in the first place. I’ve gotten lost more times than I can count.
I’m also a pro-Liberty activist in my spare time, which means I ride the Freedom Shuttle into the big cities. You might’ve seen me in the MegaPlex handing out leaflets on your “rights” under the Revised Civil Liberties Act of 2035. Sure, they’ve taken away your right to unmonitored commune space but you can still review and censor your own files under the Freedom of Information statutes. Maybe they’ll wipe them off the books too, maybe they won’t but for now they’re there for the using.
Australia may be a republic but that wasn’t supposed to mean registered citizens have to give way to government endorsed Preachers. They never did get the whole separation of powers thing down. Understandably, some say, since the neo-Fascists had too much power, and too much influence all of a sudden but religion shouldn’t be used as a yoke for an entire people. You don’t have to confess: the new laws just give Preachers the right to question you if they suspect you of information tampering or breaches of bioimmunity laws. Don’t let them con you into thinking that they can force you to take a truth oath. I’ll save that rant for later, though.
