Peter Liu - Bald New World

Voltaire grunted, clearly irritated. He assessed me with his eyes, his fingers rolling his chopsticks between them. He was deciding whether he should kill me or let me go. I was ready for anything. I would have accepted anything. “I can’t fault you for that. I’ll have Russ Brand draw up the papers. We’ll need your signature.”

“Of course.”

We got into the limousine while Voltaire made some calls. We headed down through the hills. On the freeway, traffic was in full force and everything was at a standstill. It might as well have been a car lot as there were thousands of cars going nowhere. The projectors turned on and formed a visual image of Russ. Next to him was Plath.

“All the papers are ready,” Russ said as the screen flashed with a digital contract that I could confirm with my fingerprints. There were bruises all over his face. “You sure about this?” he asked.

I nodded. It started raining outside. I saw the naked joggers again, protesting the madness of L.A. gun fire, risking death and worse. For what? I didn’t know.

“Nick. Think about this again,” Russ pleaded. “If you join Voltaire, you can live a wealthy life. You’ll have a beautiful wife and live a life of luxury, never wanting for anything. Kauai is beautiful year-round. Believe me, you’ll experience things you’ve never even—“”

I took off my shoes and my pants.

“What are you doing?” Russ asked, terrified that if I sold everything off, he’d have no company to run anymore.

I slipped my shirt off, unloosened the chest plate of my armor, and removed the helmet.

“Have you lost your mind?” Russ asked.

I went to Beauvoir, kissed her hand. I was about to say something to Voltaire, but stopped, realizing there was no point as he was engrossed in planning his retaliation.

I dropped my underpants. Put my fingers on the scan, approving the complete liquidation of the company. Opened the door. The rain was coming down heavy and traffic was an automobile quagmire. The herd of naked Americans was halfway by, banging cars as they passed. I got out and ran next to them, completely nude. It was the first time in my life I felt free.

Bald New World would not be possible without some amazing folks. I would like to thank James Chiang, Jason Jordan, Kristine Ong Muslim, Kyle Muntz, Ofer E., Richard Thomas, and God. Craig Wallwork is not just an amazing writer, but one of the most gracious people I know and I’m indebted for his support. A big thanks to pacificREVIEW and editor Shannon Snyder at San Diego State University who published the short story, “Rennaili,” which was the inspiration for the first chapter in the book. Thank you to editor John Berbrich of the Barbaric Yawp who published the first ever Larry Chao story, “58 Random Deaths and Unrequited Love,” back in 2005. I also would like to thank all the amazing writers and filmmakers who created the crazy dystopias that fired the imagination of my youth — there are too many to list here. Thank you to my incredible editor, Phil Jourdan, at Perfect Edge Books for giving my baldies a home, as well as Dominic James for his wonderful copy editing. And thank you to my wife, Angela Binxin Xu, my caring and generous in-laws, and my uncle and aunt-in-laws — my family.