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Itty Bitty Bigger World - Speed Run
Jan. 6th, 2015 03:25 amA lyftaxi is a single user vehicle that is about the size of an old style golf cart and contains a seating area about the size of a medium couch with a floor just large enough to hold a powered wheelchair.
The name is a portmanteau of "Lyft," one of numerous historical car-sharing services as the use and ownership of personal automobiles declined and "Taxi," a generic term for a hired automobile about a generation older than that.
Typically lyftaxis are used by people who either have difficulty walking a hundred meters or so to the nearest capsule pick-up point, or (over?) value their time or energy sufficiently that they dispense with the long-proven health benefits of walking.
The universally recognized hand sign that one wishes to engage a lyftaxi's services (at least in the sprawling San San arcology) is to hold up a hand with the thumb to one side and the index finger pointed straight up, in the shape of an "L."
This will cause a lyftaxi to be dispatched immediately to your location, typically arriving in less than sixty seconds.
Lyftaxis are not free. That said, the majority of users pay little to nothing.
People over the age of 65 get dramatically reduced prices on a lyftaxi.
Doctors can prescribe lyftaxi services, at cost or subsidized. (This is a double-edged sword -- doctors can also prescribe a certain number of lyftaxis _per day_ and if you exceed your ride limit, you get rude E-mails to you _and your doctor_ even if you pay for them.) People with chronic illness, people who are pregnant (and in San San, you can get hit with a discrimination complaint if you are silly enough to write that "only a woman can get pregnant" -- especially because it's no longer true), and people who use mobility chairs make much use of lyftaxis.
A person who needs to "get home" can use one free lyftaxi per day. Functional alcoholics and junkies call this the "Tipsy Tow." If you are less functional or socially disruptive, "your" lyftaxi may thoughtfully transport you to a public drunk tank. Then again, if you are having a medical emergency, it will instead take you to the hospital emergency waiting pad and demand attention from medic bots and human responders.
If you are old fashioned enough to actually buy something from a store and carry it home yourself, the store will often provide a free lyftaxi to get you and your stuff on your way. In exchange, the store will display its logo on the lyftaxi surface, letting everyone including your neighbors know either what a good deal you got, or what a cheap person you are. Or both.
As I fell into none of these categories, I got to pay. 10 credit hire fee, 2 credits per one-tenth kilometer, waiting fee 2 credits per minute.
But the absolute moment I authorized payment, San San's banking system would reflect the payment from Alan Anderson to Lyftaxi Public Services Trust, and I (and everyone in blast range) would be the prompt recipients of orbital laser time, or a smart missile, or a guy in a turban throwing a bomb [DANGER DISCRIMINATION REFERENCE - FORM OF DRESS SUGGESTIVE OF NATIONAL ANCESTRY] Override, cultural heritage, nonspecific nature. BLATT. Fine, fine, edit. "A guy with Al Queda throwing a bomb. [DISCRIMINATION WARNING TWO: GENDER BASED.] Edit, "A person of nonspecific sexuality belonging to a nonspecific terrorist organization throwing a nonspecific object hazardous to humans." [ACCEPTED].
But I could do what most teenagers, many immigrants and virtually all criminals did instead. Reach under the dash, rip out a control wire, and spark it against the dash, causing a temporary ground short that satisfied the payment system and sent me on my way for free. Most came with conveniently pre-ripped control wires.
As a police reservist, I knew this was one of many safety valves built into the San San system. It was useful to make people pay who could pay ... but it was also useful to keep discreet tabs on those who did not want to pay, for reasons of their own.
I held onto the ripped wire and touched it to my clothing. Then I told my smartware to incurse and take over the lyftaxi.
Now I had committed a crime - grand theft lyftaxi - if I hadn't been operating under a higher authority, such as not being laser bait.
I held my left hand out as if controlling an invisible control yoke and twisted as if I were opening a throttle. My smartware, knowing my vehicle control preferences, accelerated the stolen lyftaxi as we surged across the street on manual control.
I headed roughly south and east, but making random turns whenever I felt like it. I left the collision avoidance system up so I wouldn't accidentally hit any pedestrians, but otherwise I made the vehicle behave like a lyftaxi with aggression set to 10 out of 10.
That's unusual in a managed traffic control system. Precisely my point.
A set of red and blue lights lit up behind me and a powered San Francisco Police motorcycle honked briefly. He'd had to fumble for the switch - the lyftaxi hadn't automatically stopped when ordered.
As I got out of the lyftaxi, he drew his smartgun and took a kneeling stance.
"Stand where you are! Put your hands up!"
Excellent. For once things are going exactly as I had hoped.
The name is a portmanteau of "Lyft," one of numerous historical car-sharing services as the use and ownership of personal automobiles declined and "Taxi," a generic term for a hired automobile about a generation older than that.
Typically lyftaxis are used by people who either have difficulty walking a hundred meters or so to the nearest capsule pick-up point, or (over?) value their time or energy sufficiently that they dispense with the long-proven health benefits of walking.
The universally recognized hand sign that one wishes to engage a lyftaxi's services (at least in the sprawling San San arcology) is to hold up a hand with the thumb to one side and the index finger pointed straight up, in the shape of an "L."
This will cause a lyftaxi to be dispatched immediately to your location, typically arriving in less than sixty seconds.
Lyftaxis are not free. That said, the majority of users pay little to nothing.
People over the age of 65 get dramatically reduced prices on a lyftaxi.
Doctors can prescribe lyftaxi services, at cost or subsidized. (This is a double-edged sword -- doctors can also prescribe a certain number of lyftaxis _per day_ and if you exceed your ride limit, you get rude E-mails to you _and your doctor_ even if you pay for them.) People with chronic illness, people who are pregnant (and in San San, you can get hit with a discrimination complaint if you are silly enough to write that "only a woman can get pregnant" -- especially because it's no longer true), and people who use mobility chairs make much use of lyftaxis.
A person who needs to "get home" can use one free lyftaxi per day. Functional alcoholics and junkies call this the "Tipsy Tow." If you are less functional or socially disruptive, "your" lyftaxi may thoughtfully transport you to a public drunk tank. Then again, if you are having a medical emergency, it will instead take you to the hospital emergency waiting pad and demand attention from medic bots and human responders.
If you are old fashioned enough to actually buy something from a store and carry it home yourself, the store will often provide a free lyftaxi to get you and your stuff on your way. In exchange, the store will display its logo on the lyftaxi surface, letting everyone including your neighbors know either what a good deal you got, or what a cheap person you are. Or both.
As I fell into none of these categories, I got to pay. 10 credit hire fee, 2 credits per one-tenth kilometer, waiting fee 2 credits per minute.
But the absolute moment I authorized payment, San San's banking system would reflect the payment from Alan Anderson to Lyftaxi Public Services Trust, and I (and everyone in blast range) would be the prompt recipients of orbital laser time, or a smart missile, or a guy in a turban throwing a bomb [DANGER DISCRIMINATION REFERENCE - FORM OF DRESS SUGGESTIVE OF NATIONAL ANCESTRY] Override, cultural heritage, nonspecific nature. BLATT. Fine, fine, edit. "A guy with Al Queda throwing a bomb. [DISCRIMINATION WARNING TWO: GENDER BASED.] Edit, "A person of nonspecific sexuality belonging to a nonspecific terrorist organization throwing a nonspecific object hazardous to humans." [ACCEPTED].
But I could do what most teenagers, many immigrants and virtually all criminals did instead. Reach under the dash, rip out a control wire, and spark it against the dash, causing a temporary ground short that satisfied the payment system and sent me on my way for free. Most came with conveniently pre-ripped control wires.
As a police reservist, I knew this was one of many safety valves built into the San San system. It was useful to make people pay who could pay ... but it was also useful to keep discreet tabs on those who did not want to pay, for reasons of their own.
I held onto the ripped wire and touched it to my clothing. Then I told my smartware to incurse and take over the lyftaxi.
Now I had committed a crime - grand theft lyftaxi - if I hadn't been operating under a higher authority, such as not being laser bait.
I held my left hand out as if controlling an invisible control yoke and twisted as if I were opening a throttle. My smartware, knowing my vehicle control preferences, accelerated the stolen lyftaxi as we surged across the street on manual control.
I headed roughly south and east, but making random turns whenever I felt like it. I left the collision avoidance system up so I wouldn't accidentally hit any pedestrians, but otherwise I made the vehicle behave like a lyftaxi with aggression set to 10 out of 10.
That's unusual in a managed traffic control system. Precisely my point.
A set of red and blue lights lit up behind me and a powered San Francisco Police motorcycle honked briefly. He'd had to fumble for the switch - the lyftaxi hadn't automatically stopped when ordered.
As I got out of the lyftaxi, he drew his smartgun and took a kneeling stance.
"Stand where you are! Put your hands up!"
Excellent. For once things are going exactly as I had hoped.
