MANIFESTO

I don’t need to be cured. Just like I don’t need to cut myself to feel, or think. From now on, no one rewires my mind but me.

Back in Diego, the doctors said that I could learn to control my behavior, and I have. You all helped, in one way or another.

But you know what? It’s not my behavior I'm worried about anymore. It’s yours.

That’s why you won’t be seeing me for a while, maybe a long time. David and I are staying out here in the wild.

You all say you need us. Well, maybe you do, but not to help you. You have enough help, with the millions of bubbly new minds about to be unleashed, with all the cities coming awake at last. Together, you’re more than enough to change the world without us.

So from now on, David and I are here to stand in your way.

You see, freedom has a way of destroying things.

You have your New Smokes, your new ideas, whole new cities and New Systems. Well . . . we’re the new Special Circumstances.

Whenever you push too far into the wild, we’ll be here waiting, ready to push back. Remember us every time you decide to dig a new foundation, dam a river, or cut down a tree. Worry about us. However hungry the human race becomes now that the pretties are waking up, the wild still has teeth. Special teeth, ugly teeth. Us.

We’ll be out here somewhere—watching. Ready to remind you of the price the Rusties paid for going too far. I love you all. But it’s time to say good-bye, for now. Be careful with the world, or the next time we meet, it might get ugly.

—Tally Youngblood