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UNDERGROUND 2099
on. The corporations start by manufactur-
ing a need for something in one of these
underground movements. They'll supply
that need, then next thing you know,
they've got the whole movement on lock.
Think of it as sort of a mandatory sell-
out. I don't understand exactly how it
works, but it's all part of the super-scien-
tifical psycho-technological capitalist rev-
olution which started in the 1990s.
Enough about that though; let me get
back to these skaters.
Everything seemed pretty straightfor-
ward. A conglomerate of fashion clothing
companies, "extreme" sports shows and
magazines, recreational skateboarding
facilities, and private property owners
came to the Bureau with this
mission. Apparently,
groups of out-
law skaters were constructing illegal.
structures on vacant lots and private
property. They would skate on these
structures with reckless abandon until the
authorities would destroy them. Then
they would pop up across town with
another spot.
Now this may not seem like any big deal,
but this type of shit just doesn't happen in
the year 2099. I mean, there are State-
designed locations to skateboard, desig-
nated fashion accessories, TV shows,
magazines, and slang, all of which must
be utilized to be a so-called "real skater." I
became an expert on all of this when
preparing the research section of my
assignment. I created an encyclopedic
dissertation detailing historic skater
styles, types of maneuvers executed,
types of terrain, and changes in hardware
(board materials, wheel compounds, etc.)
over skateboarding's 100-plus year histo-
ry. Let's put it this way: I knew my shit. I
was probably the only FBI agent around
1.
hen I was an undercover FBI agent, I got stuck with
some pretty shitty jobs. It wasn't like the old days of
the twentieth century when Feds got to wipe out religious
cults, do a little drug smuggling, or confiscate guns from so-
called radicals. Nope, things were a bit more tame. Take my
last assignment, for example-intelligence gathering on a
group of fanatical skateboarders.
You see, nowadays, the FBI is pretty much for hire to any
corporation needing access to the wealth of information over
the past two centuries or so. It usually works something like
this: the client hires an agent to infiltrate or spy on a group
which is somehow living outside of specified societal bound-
aries. The agent starts by going through the FBI's vast bank of
archival records and putting together a profile on the outlaws.
Then they usually go out into the field, observe, and prepare
a complete report detailing every aspect of the lives of the
renegades in question.
And why would a corporation need this information, you
might wonder? It's all about control. The corporate techni-
cians use the information to methodically dismantle any type
of independent or underground culture which exists. Often,
they figure out ways to sell these people a product or devise
a new commodity to get the group addicted to or dependent
60 THRASHER
Above: Eluding the government's
control requires stealth, speed, and
skill-Dayne Brummet has all three.
and makes his getaway with a clean
50-50 down the stairs at a rebel
hideout. Right: Sam Hitz does his
work for skateboarding's under-
ground at night, donating a high
stinkbug to fakie to the cause.
THE SUPER-SCIENTIFICAL
PSYCHO-TECHNOLOGICAL
CAPITALIST REVOLUTION*