Mibracc Attack

The men in the back of the country club by Rudy Rucker was a very different cyberpunk story from the others that I’ve read. It seemed as if this story wasn’t too far off from the present day future because of some of the technology they were still using. Normally when brought a cyberpunk book or video, I would think of the usual futuristic theme, with integrated cultures, metropolitan areas that are the size of the planet itself, and futuristic technology that surpasses anything we could think to make in our lifetime. This story did generate some new technology advancements which are pretty impressive. This story had a nice mixture of what life could be probably a decade from now, excluding the ending of course. The ending of the story produces the reason to which this story is classified as an apocalyptic cyberpunk.

The Mibraccs (Men in the Back of the Country Club) of course are the most technically advanced part of this story. I can’t say exactly what they are but I would guess they are somewhat like a T-1000 from Terminator 2, only without the shape-shifting. Instead they have skin and is composed of some kind of a liquid substance known as smeel. These men aren’t really harmful until about the end of the story where they go haywire and start killing people. The idea behind these men is actually a bit scary. Something that is not killable to be frank is pretty scary.

One of the technologies that was in the story was, I’m guessing a type of nicorette gum, but for marijuana. “Danny tightened down the cover of the quilted chrome wagon and unwrapped a stick of marijuana gum, the pricey brand called Winnipeg Wheelchair.” I could honestly see, Winnipeg Wheelchair, being something invented in the future. Only because there are a lot of people wanting the drug to be legalized, and that could be a possible form of getting around the law. I’m also assuming that this gum does not help you quit marijuana, just a better way to consume it without getting caught. I think it’s fairly possible to create a substance while chewing the gum, a lot like nicotine, that could secrete a substance that produces a relaxing and hallucinogen drug. Now that I think about it, that doesn’t seem that far away at all.

A couple reasons why I think this story could be close to the time we’re living in, is the technology other than the mibraccs and a particular event that describes one character. For one, they still use motorized vehicles to travel around and they use the same parts we use today; “Tonel popped the hood and set to work extracting the battery while Jack began pumping gas from Ragland's tank. It felt stupid to be making such a complicated thing out of getting a car.” The main characters were trying to steal pieces of their neighbor’s car to put in their own. Tonel’s Father, Vincente, “learned electronics in the Navy during the second war on Iraq” was another event thought filled event that doesn’t seem too far either. Other things like the use of recliners, cell phones, and beat up old bicycles make this story seem more down to earth than a lot of the other cyberpunk stories I’ve read.

This story does share a common cyberpunk theme through some sci-fi films and books, which is the apocalypse to come. The ending has an unruly twist to the realism that was shown through most of the story. It breaks into its science-fiction roots and brings about chaos and destruction, after the plot had thickened with the main characters. Technology shows its true face and coordinates a hostile takeover. So I guess we all must be fearful of the technology that we conjure because it may not be that we end ourselves but something else that ends us. Taking this all in, I think that Rudy Rucker comes up with some ideas about the future that seem not too far from our time, and the possibility of some of them coming true, couldn’t be doubtful.