Pinto Future | Chapter Three: Before The Miracle

Pinto Future, story elements, and characters TM and © Jeff Harris

The Story So Far... A land where oil is plentiful but water is a rare commodity. A lone warrior known as the Rider has arrived in the desert wasteland that is New York City, filled with rotting buildings and a huge supply of freshwater beneath the headquarters of Camberlin Waters. The Rider took on eight android guards using his wits, a slingshot, and a strange power he earlier used to revitalize the water flowing within the pipes. It was a satisfying battle. However, he still has to leave the catacombs of old Penn Station before the water is released back into the old riverbeds or he is caught. Whichever comes first. (Chapter Two)

Fear is the greatest motivator there is in life. Whether we embrace it or we defy it, fear is one of life's finest catalysts. Baruch Spinoza said fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear. They're interconnected as one can't exist without the other. FDR said that we had nothing to fear but fear itself. He recognized the power it had over us. If we succumb to our fears, then all hope is gone and you might as well call it a day. Societies fall because they do give into their fears, largely because they are snookered by fearmongers who got paid to do so. They spread fear of things that are unfamiliar to those easily manipulated or already having those thoughts:

"Oh, that person is bad because he's a different color than you are."

"We gotta move because we don't want . . . them in our neighborhood."

"We have to separate ourselves from them because they're mongrels who want to take our women."

"We have to put them under lock and key and control their every moves because they're a different religion than the rest of us and they look like the people who attacked us."

"We need to build a wall to keep . . . them out of our country."

"He's an illegitimate president because he worships God differently than we do, has a foreign name, has a foreign dad, and doesn't really look like the rest of us."

"She's an illegitimate president because you can't trust a woman around the nuclear button during that time of the month."

Fear makes stupid people say and think stupid things. It's just as corrosive as anything man can churn out. Of course, fear is a manmade construct, so, congratulations humanity! Another product we don't need.

On the other hand, fear is something we kind of need. Fear showcases the views of the idiotic class, that's true, putting them all under a microscope to show how tiny and infectious they really are, but fear makes us do things for three reasons: We embrace it, we confront it, or we want to defy it. When we embrace fear, like I said earlier, you cease to be. You're not human anymore. You're a sponge, soaking up what they want you to believe especially if it's something you want to believe anyway no matter how untrue it actually is. If you defy fears, you grow as a human being. You put aside the prejudices, ignorance, and hate associated with fear, and you come out a lot stronger, not to mention being a better person.

When you confront your fears, then you're doing a combination of the two. You acknowledge that the fear exists, and yes, you're a little scared to even approach it. But somewhere in the pit of your stomach, you take it on head first, unsure of what will happen. You shed a little anxiety, though it still remains, but you're not going to let it bring you down. When you confront your fears, you take a 50/50 chance on life. Be it soldiers on the battlefield, players on the gridiron, or a guy trying telling someone he had a crush on that he loved her for years all the while holding yourself back for any kind of impact in the end. At worst, she'll say no. At best, you have a girlfriend, you lucky guy, you. But if you don't even try to confront your fears, you'll always be wondering what if. That's depressing as hell.

The Rider is afraid. Every one of these missions is a practice in confronting his fears. He knows what he's doing isn't really legal by any stretch. Reclaiming the country's fresh water is a monumental task. He's the only one who's willing to bring it back. And so far, he's been quite successful. He restored ponds, lakes, and smaller rivers during his travels, but never anything of this magnitude.

It scares him, but he has confronted those fears and did the first step. He awakened the water. It's no longer stagnant and dormant. The water is breathing, thriving, growing once again. However, it's still constricted in the catacombs, which is why The Rider is searching for the control room of Camberlin Waters. If there even is one.

"I don't think Mizu knew how big this place was," he said to himself. "It's like I'm in a labyrinth with nothing but holes, and I'm the silver ball. When I get out of this - if I get out of this - I'm going to have to have a talk with that girl. Always a first time for everything."

I'll . . . I'll explain Mizu later. Like I said, there are more of us, and she's a vital piece of the puzzle.

The maze took him out of the old Penn Station all the way over to the center of Manhattan, the Access Point, the spot where the three main water supply tunnels all connected too. The source from Camberlin was connected to these taps as well, just shut down.

"Camberlin, you selfish bastard," The Rider says as he begins to release the valves. He still has a little time before the water starts flowing wildly back into the environment. All the while he's doing this, a nagging thought is running through his mind:

This is too easy.

The alarms began blaring, but the damage had been done. The Camberlin water source began flowing back into the main water line, though it was at a slower rate than he had anticipated. The Rider heard footsteps coming towards him as he was leaving the area.

"More androids?" he asked aloud. "Awesome."

"Organic being in the vicinity! Obliterate at once!" they cried out in unison.

"You guys are still saying that? God, you need better dialogue programmers. 'Organic being in the vicinity! Obliterate at once!' C'mon, say something like 'Behold! I am Ultimo! Thy deliverer!' 'Klaatu barada nikto.' 'Beedee-beedee-beedee.' Anything to change the monotony."

"The subject emits excess verbal communication only delaying the obliteration." the androids said.

"Just say 'You talk too much'! You're only wasting CPU power."

The androids came at The Rider, and The Rider fought them off again. He even stuck a strange polymer on their backs.

"Composition DME," the Rider told them. "Non-toxic, eco-friendly, won't toxify water like other substances. Very explosive. Nanospores within it will cause a detonation - - -"

"Previous androids uplinked your earlier actions," the androids said. "Subject giving false statements. Substance nothing more than what you call chewing gum."

The Rider relented and raised his hands up.

"I guess you're right," he said. "I can't fool you guys twice, can I? If it's anything, you guys are worthy opponents. Bravo!"

The androids stopped operating and exploded upon hearing the word "Bravo."

The Rider just kicked the smoldering piles of destroyed androids.

"I tried to warn you guys," he lamented.

A sound of hands clapping was echoing through the walls of the chamber. Human hands. A solitary figure came out towards The Rider. He was 20, maybe 30 years older than The Rider, much taller, wearing a long black overcoat. Gold cufflinks with the familiar eagle and sun crest of Camberlin Waters. Alright, not so familiar to you if you're reading this now, but familiar to a generation of consumers. The man is Melvin Camberlin himself, and he looked at The Rider not as someone who destroyed his business, but rather as someone he is impressed by.

"You're some piece of work, you know that, boy?" Camberlin said. "You took out my guards, rerouted my water supply to the old reservoirs and, what, you expect to come out this alive?"

"Melvin Camberlin," the Rider said. "You have some nerve to even be down here."

"Now why do you say that?"

"Because you're not going to live long."

Camberlin didn't panic nor felt shaken. He was calm. He felt no fear, even though at this point, he probably should have.

"You're the legendary Pinto Rider, huh?" Camberlin asked. "The man who took down Isis Springs. The guy who restored the Chesapeake Bay? The one who recreated the Potomac? You're the guy we've been sweating all these years? A young brother like me."

"I'm no brother of yours."

A third voice entered The Rider's ear. A young female in a background of mechanical noise.

"Rider, you're still down there?" she asked.

"Mizu? Is that you?" the Rider asked. "This isn't the right time. Kind of face to face with an asshat."

"Hey!" Camberlin shouted.

"Talk to me babe," the Rider continued. "What's the situation?"

"The reservoirs are filling up from our eyes on the scene," Mizu said in his earphone. "It's a beautiful sight. Glad you found the system operations. It's all done, Rider. Our people have taken all assets and transferred them over to the people. The Water Works is back in the hands of the city. The City is also owned by the people. That's the good news."

"What's the bad news, Mizu?"

"Apparently your methods were a little too good today and the water's expanding at a higher rate than we anticipated."

"Meaning?"

"After the reservoirs fill up, we're going to have to flush the remaining source into the canyons and old waterways. We anticipated this, remember?"

"Yeah, I was thinking I had an hour to get out of here after I did it."

"Miscalculation on my part, Rider. Sorry. Still, be proud of what you've accomplished today. On the one hand, the rivers will be reformed. On the other hand, if you don't get out of there in five minutes, you're going to drown. Wait, who's with you?"

"Camberlin."

"Not exactly the smartest of folks, is he? Get a move on, Rider. Now!"

The connection broke, and yet, the Rider looked at Camberlin and just smiled.

"What the hell are you smiling about?" Camberlin asked.

"The fact that you're just a man with nothing," The Rider explained. "You don't own New York City anymore. The water is back into the public. Even your androids are out of service. You're going to be lucky if you don't get arrested the moment you get out of the catacombs, which is also owned by the people. You're ruined."

The gravity of what The Rider was telling Camberlin was just getting to him. He initially doubted what was being said, but he knew it was the truth.

"I'm ruined," he said.

"Uh, duh! I'm the one who gave you that newsflash."

Camberlin grabbed The Rider by his shirt and threw him against the wall. This wasn't a smart move.

"Ow! You idiot!" the Rider shouted. "Beating me up isn't going to restore everything you lost."

Camberlin punched The Rider in the gut.

"No, but it sure as hell makes me feel a lot better."

"Enjoy it," the Rider said after punching Camberlin in his throat, "because in about two minutes, we're both going to drown from the water flushing out."

Camberlin tried to find the words that struggled to come out of his bruised throat. "What *kaff* what *kruff* what the hell are you talking about boy? *koff*"

A large rush of water was heard in the distance. The reservoirs must be completely filled. All of them. For the first time in 50 years.

"That. That's what I'm talking about."

"Oh well *kruff*, no point in delaying your death any more," Camberlin said as he pulled out a revolver and shot The Rider right in his ribcage and preceded to walk away.

"What - what did you do?" the Rider tried to get out as he was panicking while holding his ribs.

"Oh, I shot you. You'll die in here and I'll reroute my own controls and get the system back the way it was." Camberlin tried to reroute the systems via his personal control system. They were completely inaccessible. Mizu was right. He no longer had any control of the company he built up from scratch. Camberlin was powerless. At least he got rid of a bigger problem for the rest of the Brotherhood, the Pinto Rider himself.

"Maybe onr of the remaining companies will bring me onboard," Camberlin thought to himself.

"Where do you think you're going?" the Rider asked as he was getting up. "You're finished, Camberlin."

"You're supposed to be dead!" Camberlin shouted. "You're supposed to be DEAD!!!"

"I'm in a lot of pain, but I'm not dead. Not yet anyway. I'm using as much energy as I can muster to spare your life."

"What are you prattling on about, boy?"

"This huge wall of water behind me." The Rider held up a 50-foot wall of water, from the ceiling to the floor. Like the hands that was holding it up, the water was glowing a bluish-white. In a way, that wall of water was just as alive as a wall of fire and The Rider himself, whose eyes were glowing an amber hue once again.

"I need to finish you off for good," Camberlin said as he shot at The Rider. The water reacted and caught the bullets in mid air.

"Your fear has completely consumed you," the Rider said in a trancelike, almost metallic tone. "You must be purged from this planet because of your sins."

"What are you?" Camberlin asked.

"I am the cure to the Reaction. Water is life, but in your case, Melvin Camberlin, death. May the stars treat you kindly in the next life than I will in this one."

At that moment, the Rider became one with the water, his whole body becoming as clear as the water behind him. A burst of energy filled the entire room throwing Camberlin across the room. His head banged a steel pipe and knocked him unconscious to the ground. The Rider let go of the growing body of water and traveled through the catacombs with it. The volume of water was massive, ending up flowing through all the open ends of the old subway lines and filling up the canyons. As The Rider landed in the old Manhattan Canyon, now once again the Manhattan River, a huge burst of energy came from him, reverting the warrior back to his regular, flesh-and-blood state.

"Holy crap, that was . . . what was that?" he asked as he tried to regain his composure. He still had a wound on his ribs. It was deep, and he barely had enough energy left to do much of anything.

Except laugh, which he did heartily.

The Rider smiled in the accomplishments he has done this day. It's not every day someone brings a river back to life, let alone three. Emotionally, he was happy. Physically, he was exhausted. The exhaustion caused him to collapse, floating on the newly formed river he brought back to life.

His body floats, but at least the Rider knows his job is done, and for this moment, he can rest.

End of Chapter Three