Resolution Revolution

Trigger Warnings:

- disturbing imagery

- societal manipulation

- militant themes

Jade Zelenska was a snapshot of whimsey in an urban jungle. From the space-buns wrangled by mismatched, neon scrunchies to the rainbow beads on her battered combat boots. Boots which cracked against the asphalt as she sprinted from her pursuers. She’d dumped the spray paint two blocks back but the custodians were still gaining on her. Still shouting "comply!" like the deadly dull mantra held any power over her. Still looking utterly lacklustre in black masks and government issued bodysuits. The suits should have scared her but mainly freaked out her fashion sense. She pushed herself to go faster because the ever-diminishing sane part of her mind demanded it and hammered down another by-street at random. Can’t predict a strategy that doesn’t exist right? Three pairs of black boots thundered after her. Jade gritted her teeth. This was getting serious. Her breath was too ragged and she was already wincing against a stitch. She needed an exit. Now.

Jade veered sharply right still sprinting full tilt. Maybe she could lose them in the crowds on mains-street. She didn’t have time to weigh her odds before she was swallowed by a beast of elongated elbows and grossly unremarkable garments. She ducked, dove and weaved but the custodians didn’t hesitate barging past anyone who couldn’t scramble out of their way fast enough. This wasn’t working. This really wasn’t working. It was then that Jade clocked the subway station. She knew what she had to do in an instant, ploughing a path for the stairs. It was a miracle she didn’t break her neck given the speed with which she careened down into the half-light of the underground. She scrambled over the barriers with all the grace of an ostrich on an ice rink before streaking down the platform as the sirens started screaming behind her. The end of the platform glared her down but she didn’t flinch. In fact she sped up. Pushing herself towards the collage of achromatic propaganda posters plastered against the tile. Closer… Closer … Collision.

The world flickered.

PHOTOGRAPH - 2037, CONSENSUS DAY PARADE

When Jade opened her eyes she was in a foreign realm of black ink and bleach. She was doubled over. Breathing hard but she knew she was safe. Custodians can’t photo-dive. It was common knowledge. No one she knew could photo-dive. Not that being a photo-diver was something people felt safe sharing. She’d certainly kept her own mouth tight shut.

When her lungs, enraged by the affront of exercise, desisted trying to throttle her, Jade looked up, suddenly stingingly curious. The scene before her was familiar. Not distantly familiar. Instantly recognisable. It was shown in schools. Her parents occasionally regaled her with the tale of how their entire street had all crammed into the one house on their block with a TV to watch the live broadcast. The original military parade in honour of Consensus Day. The day the first uprising was "enlightened". The day the instigators finally realised the error of their ways.

Only they didn’t look joyful. Or "enlightened". Or even repentant. In fact they didn’t look anything at all because not one of the hundreds of people static before her had a face. Not even the soldiers in their dark, starched uniforms. Not, that is until she squinted. Then she started to see. Anger. Fear. Control. Gun barrels jabbed between shoulder-blades. A wild-eyed man being forced back into line by a sneering soldier. Every time Jade blinked it would disappear. She’d be back amid faceless parade that allowed you to imagine smiles where there were none but inexorably, bit by bit the the reality wormed it’s way back to her forcing her to confront the rot beneath the history she’d thought she knew. Jade wasn't naive. She didn't expect to be in the know about everything. She definitely didn't expect to be told the truth, even if she hoped that she would be, but this was different. this was-

That’s when the shout shattered her silence. Jade nearly jumped out of her skin. Fronting about so wildly that her bracelets clattered together in her haste to try and see which pale spectre had spoken. For a moment she was relieved to see another island of colour amid the vast sea of jet and ivory. Then she heard a different voice and another and remembered where she was.

The Resolution Revolution was the only public group with an organised cohort of photo-divers.

No one knew the exact date the real world lost its colour. It didn’t happen all at once. Most said it was a toxic cocktail of social media and AI enhanced fake news. Others argued it was the collapse of independent journalism. Some even believed it was inevitable from the first moment being “colourful” became an insult. All we know is that by 2050 The Coalition had ensured that most of the world had forgotten all about shades of grey or any other shade or colour for that matter. Right was right. Wrong was wrong. The Coalition was right. The Revolution was wrong.

Jade froze. The voices were closing in and she wouldn’t remain unnoticed for long, not against this zebra print pullover of a wasteland. Before she could second guess herself she stepped forward. The three revolutionaries turned to face her wielding suspicion sharper than a stiletto.

"Um... Hi. I'm Jade" no one moved a muscle for at least a five count. Then a flinty-eyed woman with a nose like the tip of a crochet hook reached for her holster. Oh crap. The gun was drawn... Oh crap. Aimed... "Wait!" ... Fired.

A swoosh of something dark and cold went over Jade like a wave or a savage wind. For a surreal moment she wondered if she was dying. She'd expected it to hurt more but she wasn't going to complain. Then the hook-nosed lady spoke again.

"She's clean." Jade was not clean, at least not to her understanding. She was still luridly speckled with paint from her extra-legal art session and her hands were streaky with grime from vaulting the subway barriers but at least if she wasn't clean she didn't appear to be dead either. The revolutionaries seemed to soften with relief regardless of her confusion and Jade found herself relaxing a little along with them.

They didn't seem like the hardened criminals the GovFlicks showed burning buildings and bribing wayward children with promises of blood. They seemed ... young. Determined. The hook-nosed girl scrutinised Jade. Her companions appeared to be waiting on her verdict.

"First exposure?" It wasn't really a question. Jade had never been good at concealing her emotions and today had been about as calm as the water around a shoal of piranhas as they devoured a carcass. She nodded.

"Yeah. I never... I never realised it was this bad." The hook-nosed girl pressed her lips together in a grimly conspiratorial smile.

"We've all been there. The real question is whether you're going to help us fix it."

Jade swallowed. A combination of adrenaline and newly acute awareness of the flaws in her worldview, emphasised by the way the photo-world around her flickered, made her strangely receptive to the idea. She wanted to help. She wanted to tell the truth. To fight. It just wasn't that simple. She didn't know these people but ... then again she was already in trouble with the custodians. Her hesitation must have been noted because the hook-nosed girl turned as if to walk away.

"Fix it how?" Jade hadn't really meant to speak but she didn't regret it. The hook-nosed girl didn't turn back but gestured for Jade to follow. She did, trailing behind as the girl weaved her way through the crowd towards the periphery of the pale parade. The companions followed as well but kept their distance keeping watch more than participating. The girl seemed to be looking for something.

"Name's Alicia by the way" the girl muttered distractedly as she scanned the surroundings.

Finally Alicia's eyes seemed to snag on something in one of the houses off to the side of the street. Jade felt a strange tugging her chest as they navigated towards the building. She didn't photo-dive a lot. It was too risky but this pulling sensation felt familiar to her all the same and intensified the closer they got. Jade's curiosity resurged with a vengeance as they honed in on whatever it was Alicia was scanning for. The world seemed to flash between what she'd always known and the truth she was being forced to confront more regular as they approached the house. Alicia opened the door. It was dark inside the house and the flashing was definitely becoming more frequent now, tempo building as they neared the source of the pulling sensation.

Jade thought the house was disappointingly bland, even if - and it was a big if - she could forgive the complete void of colour, the furniture was still entirely generic and acted as a clear demonstration of a total lack of flair. In any other circumstance Jade probably would have made a joke but Alicia looked serious and the shock of coming face to face with the past still had her off balance. So Jade followed her up the stairs in comparative silence. Her heartbeat picked up as they finally stood across from the door at the top of the stairs. Alicia stood aside gesturing a simple, "after you".

As Jade went in the flashing became so rapid her eyes lost track, layering both realities in a way that made Jade's stomach rebel. She looked back towards Alicia, who was still stationed by the door, waiting for any form of direction but received none. There was something suspended maybe a metre off the ground in the middle of the room. Or maybe it was an absence of a something, either way it was bright, like a wildfire in a winter forest. Colourful, enough to make Jade's eyes ache and beautiful enough that didn't deter her from reaching for it instinctively. Her hand made contact.

Colour rushed out in a wave so strong it carried Jade with it. Giving her a vague impression of blurred but ruddy faces; anguish and humanity in glorious technicolour -a sky electric with blinding blue - A station platform.

The whole experience was so disorientating that it took Jade a good while to work out she was back in her world. The present. A world it wouldn't be so easy to bring colour to and holding a photo that wasn't nice to look at but didn't need to be. It was real. She looked around for custodians but realised she had manifested in a different station. A station unknown to her. Jade squinted at the photo. It was no longer black and white. She turned it over. On the back it read. RESOLUTION REVOLUTION - bring back the colour, force the facts into focus. Jade grinned. Now that was mantra she could get behind.