CITY LIMITS
"WELCOME TO TOKYO-TO"
Joe smiled as he read the sign on the side of the road with letters written in blue on a yellow background. Although it was late in the evening and very dark, the large sign was well lit and easy to read. Joe had spent most of the day driving his truck to its destination, it was long and perceived by many to be a rather boring proposal, but it's what Joe is being paid for. He took his baseball cap off and then rubbed his face, fatigue was slowly setting in but he was nearly there. He decided he needed something to waken him up a bit.... Then he swore at himself for forgetting where he was and proceeded to grab the tuning dial on the radio. He was currently listening to a national station specialising in popular music, but the repetitive songs by boy and girl groups were being little more than a sleeping aid. He turned the dial to find little more than the sound of static. He turned it again and got some broadcast with people discussing their interests in antique bottle caps. He tried again and was greeted by yet more static. He finally got to a frequency that was blasting out fast paced dance music. He waited as the music quickly reached its conclusion and a voice almost shouted out of the speaker in the style of a ring announcer: "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, DJ Professor K proudly brings to you from Tokyo-to, the greatest radio station in the woooooorld! JET - SET - RADIOOO!!! We're power-slamming your ear-drums with the best tunes and laying the smackdown on all the competition!" Joe grinned as if he'd won the lottery; there was no mistaking the Professor and his OTT personality.
His truck was now leaving the outer limits and into the city itself, the roads lit up by numerous streetlights. Joe made a right turn as the radio continued to spit out the DJ's radio link. "Let's delve into the mailbag." The radio then blurts out the sounds of various items being thrown around. "Mr Yanoshima says 'All the other guys keep calling me a girl, what should I do?' Simple, just tell them to go away and hit 'em with your handbag!" Joe laughed at the reply, checking his route that he had marked out earlier on a street map as he waited at the traffic lights; he wasn't too far from his destination now. He made a number of turns through the various streets, some boasted high- class shops, and others greeted you with the offer of a meal "at affordable prices." Joe continued to drive, paying attention to the street signs and where he was going. He was warned that it was easy to get lost in the many junctions and that he had to stay alert as much as possible. The truck had now left the commercial areas and was now entering more residential premises, he began to wonder if he was lost, but Joe was certain he was sticking to his route and continued regardless. After a while he was now driving down an empty street. There were little in the way of activity, it almost made him a little suspicious.... A shrill noise suddenly began screaming. Joe cursed as he recognised the sound of the police sirens and looked in his rear view mirror. But there was no one there; he couldn't see any cops behind him. He checked the other mirror. No car, no motorbike, no police vehicle of any kind, no vehicles full stop. What the hell....? Joe couldn't understand what was going on, but decided for his sake to bring the truck to a stop. He checked the mirrors again while the sirens continued to wail, but he saw no sign of any police officers. He now wondered if the sirens were coming from the radio, but Professor K was now playing a song by an American Rap group. Joe was about to open the truck door to get out to check what is going on when he was surprised to see a face looking back at him; at least, he thought it was a face. It was wearing a grey hood, covering most of the head. It was wearing something over its mouth that resembled a gas mask or some sort of breathing apparatus. Finally, it was wearing a set of strange goggles; you couldn't see the face's eyes behind it because of two bright lights where the pupils are meant to be. Joe was freaked out even further when they flashed on and off, like they were blinking... "Who the hell are you?" The face didn't move, nor did it make any sounds in reply. The lights blinked a couple more times. "What the hell are you...?" Joe examined the face a bit more. It was smaller than an adult's face. Maybe it's.... A kid. In Joe's head, a penny dropped. It's probably just some little punk pulling a prank on him. Joe lost his patience. And shouted at the head over the noise. "Look kid, you better not be jerkin' my chain. I'm not in the damn mood!" Suddenly an arm appeared out of nowhere. Joe looked, and realised it wasn't a human arm, but a robotic one. It seemed to have appeared from the kid's back. The arm itself was holding a spray can. It was black in colour with a large red "P" written on it. The lights blinked again, and then the robot arm pressed a button. The contents of the spray can emptied into Joe's face. Joe started screaming in pain. The spray blinded him and his face felt as if it was on fire, the spray was in his mouth and up his nose making it hard to breathe. He waved his hand wildly, first trying to get it out of his eyes and then to help him breathe. The face then raised a more human arm and opened the truck door. It then proceeded to grab Joe and pull him out of the truck. Joe himself was in no state to properly see the culprit nor resist being pulled out, all he could do was roll in pain on the road, fearing for his life. What he could hear was the endless crying of the police siren, but he then heard a series of other noises. A truck door closing, an engine starting and finally a vehicle driving away. Joe screamed in a mix of pain and anger, that little punk stole his truck!
The Grey hooded face was now driving the truck down the street, looking as calm as it did when the whole incident started. It raised a gloved hand towards a metal box on its chest and pushed a button. The police sirens that had been screaming through out had now suddenly stopped. It then proceeded to push a second button. It spoke in a voice that is human by nature, but a synthesiser warped the voice to make it sound something more robotic. "AC?" A second voice replied, also warped to resemble a robot. "Yeah, boss?" "You in the back of the truck?" "Yes, Did it work?" "Of course it did! The pepper spray worked like a charm." "Man, I can't believe that jerk fell for the old 'Police Siren Recording' trick!" "That's why I said to wait for a truck to come in from the city limits. Over eighty per cent of all truck drivers that come in through here aren't from Tokyo-to. They don't know about us. Anyway, Is the gear in the back?" "It is alright, we've hit the jackpot! There's about two dozen boxes here at least and each one has about thirty spray cans! We've got enough paint here to tag the whole district!" "We'll move to stage three, stop by the train depot, meet the others and unload the truck there." "Affirmative. Over and out." Behind the mask, the driver was smiling. The operation couldn't have gone smoother. Weeks of planning and several dry runs had resulted in a perfect execution with efficient automata. And the resultant output from the process couldn't be more advantageously. With this amount of spray paint, the Noise Tanks would become a force to be reckoned with!
"WELCOME TO TOKYO-TO"
Joe smiled as he read the sign on the side of the road with letters written in blue on a yellow background. Although it was late in the evening and very dark, the large sign was well lit and easy to read. Joe had spent most of the day driving his truck to its destination, it was long and perceived by many to be a rather boring proposal, but it's what Joe is being paid for. He took his baseball cap off and then rubbed his face, fatigue was slowly setting in but he was nearly there. He decided he needed something to waken him up a bit.... Then he swore at himself for forgetting where he was and proceeded to grab the tuning dial on the radio. He was currently listening to a national station specialising in popular music, but the repetitive songs by boy and girl groups were being little more than a sleeping aid. He turned the dial to find little more than the sound of static. He turned it again and got some broadcast with people discussing their interests in antique bottle caps. He tried again and was greeted by yet more static. He finally got to a frequency that was blasting out fast paced dance music. He waited as the music quickly reached its conclusion and a voice almost shouted out of the speaker in the style of a ring announcer: "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, DJ Professor K proudly brings to you from Tokyo-to, the greatest radio station in the woooooorld! JET - SET - RADIOOO!!! We're power-slamming your ear-drums with the best tunes and laying the smackdown on all the competition!" Joe grinned as if he'd won the lottery; there was no mistaking the Professor and his OTT personality.
His truck was now leaving the outer limits and into the city itself, the roads lit up by numerous streetlights. Joe made a right turn as the radio continued to spit out the DJ's radio link. "Let's delve into the mailbag." The radio then blurts out the sounds of various items being thrown around. "Mr Yanoshima says 'All the other guys keep calling me a girl, what should I do?' Simple, just tell them to go away and hit 'em with your handbag!" Joe laughed at the reply, checking his route that he had marked out earlier on a street map as he waited at the traffic lights; he wasn't too far from his destination now. He made a number of turns through the various streets, some boasted high- class shops, and others greeted you with the offer of a meal "at affordable prices." Joe continued to drive, paying attention to the street signs and where he was going. He was warned that it was easy to get lost in the many junctions and that he had to stay alert as much as possible. The truck had now left the commercial areas and was now entering more residential premises, he began to wonder if he was lost, but Joe was certain he was sticking to his route and continued regardless. After a while he was now driving down an empty street. There were little in the way of activity, it almost made him a little suspicious.... A shrill noise suddenly began screaming. Joe cursed as he recognised the sound of the police sirens and looked in his rear view mirror. But there was no one there; he couldn't see any cops behind him. He checked the other mirror. No car, no motorbike, no police vehicle of any kind, no vehicles full stop. What the hell....? Joe couldn't understand what was going on, but decided for his sake to bring the truck to a stop. He checked the mirrors again while the sirens continued to wail, but he saw no sign of any police officers. He now wondered if the sirens were coming from the radio, but Professor K was now playing a song by an American Rap group. Joe was about to open the truck door to get out to check what is going on when he was surprised to see a face looking back at him; at least, he thought it was a face. It was wearing a grey hood, covering most of the head. It was wearing something over its mouth that resembled a gas mask or some sort of breathing apparatus. Finally, it was wearing a set of strange goggles; you couldn't see the face's eyes behind it because of two bright lights where the pupils are meant to be. Joe was freaked out even further when they flashed on and off, like they were blinking... "Who the hell are you?" The face didn't move, nor did it make any sounds in reply. The lights blinked a couple more times. "What the hell are you...?" Joe examined the face a bit more. It was smaller than an adult's face. Maybe it's.... A kid. In Joe's head, a penny dropped. It's probably just some little punk pulling a prank on him. Joe lost his patience. And shouted at the head over the noise. "Look kid, you better not be jerkin' my chain. I'm not in the damn mood!" Suddenly an arm appeared out of nowhere. Joe looked, and realised it wasn't a human arm, but a robotic one. It seemed to have appeared from the kid's back. The arm itself was holding a spray can. It was black in colour with a large red "P" written on it. The lights blinked again, and then the robot arm pressed a button. The contents of the spray can emptied into Joe's face. Joe started screaming in pain. The spray blinded him and his face felt as if it was on fire, the spray was in his mouth and up his nose making it hard to breathe. He waved his hand wildly, first trying to get it out of his eyes and then to help him breathe. The face then raised a more human arm and opened the truck door. It then proceeded to grab Joe and pull him out of the truck. Joe himself was in no state to properly see the culprit nor resist being pulled out, all he could do was roll in pain on the road, fearing for his life. What he could hear was the endless crying of the police siren, but he then heard a series of other noises. A truck door closing, an engine starting and finally a vehicle driving away. Joe screamed in a mix of pain and anger, that little punk stole his truck!
The Grey hooded face was now driving the truck down the street, looking as calm as it did when the whole incident started. It raised a gloved hand towards a metal box on its chest and pushed a button. The police sirens that had been screaming through out had now suddenly stopped. It then proceeded to push a second button. It spoke in a voice that is human by nature, but a synthesiser warped the voice to make it sound something more robotic. "AC?" A second voice replied, also warped to resemble a robot. "Yeah, boss?" "You in the back of the truck?" "Yes, Did it work?" "Of course it did! The pepper spray worked like a charm." "Man, I can't believe that jerk fell for the old 'Police Siren Recording' trick!" "That's why I said to wait for a truck to come in from the city limits. Over eighty per cent of all truck drivers that come in through here aren't from Tokyo-to. They don't know about us. Anyway, Is the gear in the back?" "It is alright, we've hit the jackpot! There's about two dozen boxes here at least and each one has about thirty spray cans! We've got enough paint here to tag the whole district!" "We'll move to stage three, stop by the train depot, meet the others and unload the truck there." "Affirmative. Over and out." Behind the mask, the driver was smiling. The operation couldn't have gone smoother. Weeks of planning and several dry runs had resulted in a perfect execution with efficient automata. And the resultant output from the process couldn't be more advantageously. With this amount of spray paint, the Noise Tanks would become a force to be reckoned with!