Free Asimov's Science Fiction: March 2014 by Penny Publications Page B

what he looked like in hardtime. His avatar was certainly hot in his leathers and tanker boots. Sturm's identity, obviously, was no secret to her, although she hoped that she was the only one on the team who knew that he was her twin brother.
    It took them most of a prickly afternoon to rewrite the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence; they were being as cooperative as cats. Sturm and Silk took the revolution too seriously, in Remeny's opinion, as if it might happen next Wednesday. Silk argued for making as few changes as possible to their version; Sturm said their demands should be clear.
    "Unalienable?" said Sturm.
    "There's no such word." "There was back then."
    "Well, this is now."
    Botão seemed nervous about advocating the overthrow of anything. She was probably worried about being deported. "I like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Botão was standing so close to Sturm that their avatars were prectically merging.
    "We should keep that part. Someday I'm going to own my own domain, move in, and never get real again."
    "What's in your domain?" Sturm's blippage went all flirty.
    "You mean who?" She pushed away from him and poked a finger into his chest.
    "Maybe you wish it was you?" She smirked. "Not yet, Mystery Boy. Earn it."
    "Focus please," said Silk.
    ...
later.
    "No, governments are supposed to serve us, not the other way around."
    Silk had created a rectangular glass conference table with himself at the head.
    The draft of the declaration glowed on its surface. "We can't change 'consent of the governed.' "
    "What is consent, anyway?"
    "Like permission, only more legal."
    "I never gave no consent for some bullshit EOS to ruin my life."
    ...
much later.
    "So that means we have the right to overthrow the EOS?" Botão sounded doubtful.
    Toybox was lighting his fingertips on fire. "Overthrow the oldschool and be done with all the bullshit." The longer they talked, the higher the numbers on his boredom blip climbed. It was like watching a cartoon fuse burn.
    "I don't see how they give us a 'A' for overthrowing them," said Remeny.
    "If we prove they're unjust...."
    "But that's why we have to keep 'alter and abolish.' " Silk interrupted Sturm for the hundredth time. "Means the same as overthrow, only Jefferson wrote it. So we hide behind his language."
    ...
much, much later.
    Sturm had changed the conference table from retangular to round. "If we get rid of the old government, then we need a new one," he said.
    "I'm not making up a whole new government," said Botão. "My job starts in half an hour."
    "So then no government," Sturm said. "Everyone for themselves. Law of the jungle."
    Before she could stop it, a (.2) shock blip flashed above Remeny's avatar. This wasn't like him.
    Eventually, after arguments and much blippage, they persuaded Silk to yield the power of the keyboard to Remeny, since she was willing to take other people's suggestions. While Silk brooded, they agreed on a draft of the crucial second paragraph.
    "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all realities, hard and soft, old and new, are equal, and so are we the people who live in them, whichever reality we chose. All people, no matter whether they live in bodies or avatars, are endowed with certain inalienable rights, and among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To guarantee our rights governments are supposed to serve we the people and not the other way around. They derive their powers from the consent of the governed. If a government goes off, it is the right of we the people to alter or to abolish it, and to make up some new government that will do the right thing."
    "Okay." Remeny checked the time on her overlord; she too would have to get real soon. "So now what?"
    "List everything the government is doing wrong." Silk broke his grim silence.
    Toybox groaned. "Not today."
    "No," said Remeny. "Save that for next time. Anything else?"
    "We need to think about making something happen in hardtime,"