Page 38 of Fibre and Ink

I went into Foggy Basin that afternoon and pinned my posters up everywhere. The people I encountered were mostly on the side of not wanting a huge new data center built, so that was a good sign.

Lots promised to turn up to the protest. I hoped they’d keep their word.

Over the weekend Mickey and I watched X-Files together, cooked and didn’t talk about anything too deep and meaningful.

After his confession, I wanted to reassure him that things were cool between us and that I wouldn’t pressure him into doing anything.

We fell into a kind of comfortable rhythm.

I slept in my own bed in the guest room, and although nothing was technically happening... The atmosphere felt optimistic. I hoped it was, anyway, rather than me projecting what I wanted onto it.

To be fair, I was quite distracted, making signs out of old bits of plywood Mickey found in the garage, and being chronically online. The leaflet drop of protest flyers had gone fabulously, thanks to Nova’s organization. I loved that guy, so friendly, so cool.

Online, people were activating.

The Facebook event I’d made for the protest was active. People were sharing it around and I had emails and social media DMs asking for more information.

Replying to everyone took quite a lot of time and attention. It was, honestly, a nice distraction from Mickey and my feelings and his feelings and like... all of that.

Mickey

The day of the protest, we drove into Foggy Basin with the truck bed stocked with signs Aster would hand out to people.

A crowd had turned up, made up of lots of familiar faces. Mr Atkins waved his cane at me. Besides those I knew, there were many faces I didn’t know.

“How did you get so many people?”

Aster grinned. “Most people like Foggy Basin the way it is, quiet and green. Having to pay extra for power to support a data center really pissed off a lot of folks too. Turns out a lot of them are on various social media platforms and once the leaflet drop happened people got in touch. Plus, the poster up at the grocery, and of course,” he waved down the road. “Harlow.”

My sister waved to us from the corner, moving closer with a wide smile on her face. “Hey, you two!”

I hugged her, then stood back so Aster could do the same.

“Now, we’re not marching up Main Street or anything, we’re standing and being annoying, right?” Harlow asked.

“That’s right. Annoying.” Aster started handing out signs. “We want to be loud and annoying and generally get attention.”

“I’ve bought a Bluetooth speaker,” Harlow said. “I can play music.”

“Perfect. Put on some protest music and then the most annoying song you can think of.”

“Hatsune Miku is a queen, but her high-pitched voice can get annoying, right?” Harlow tapped her phone, making a playlist.

“Perfect, she usually has a good beat too.”

“Really? You’re going with a virtual singer from Japan over your local talent?” Tane’s voice preceded a sudden side hug for Aster. I might have got jealous except I’d seen how devoted Tane and Dillon were to each other.

“We’re aiming for annoying, Tane, not gift-of-the-gods masterpiece music.” Aster hugged him back. “Thanks for coming.”

“Hey Mick, Harlow. Apologies from Dillon, he was going to close up and come too, but the delivery guy arrived. I told him about this, he might be by later.” Tane took one of the handmade signs and held it up. “Where do you want me?”

Between us, we organized the crowd on both sides of the street outside town hall.

We played music and chanted at Aster’s prompting. I was in awe. Aster addressed the crowd with ase. He didn’t hesitate, or fumble his words, he just grabbed everyone’s attention and then commanded it.

“No data center! No AI in Foggy!” Within moments we took up the chant.

Aster marched up and down, stomping his feet and keeping people on the beat, and leading the chant.