COVIDYSTOPIA- May 3, 2042 (Somewhere in the Andes, South America)
Sundays were prayer days at the Grey Fox Liberation Army HQ. Acolyte-Snake Level 13 – Rengoku, entered the stage with great purpose as Grey Fox, and whipped up her multi-planet audience into a frenzy. Liberate Grey Fox, Liberate Grey Fox. Down with the evil AI, down with the evil AI.
2 decades ago the world had been stricken with a devilish fever. An avatar/persona called Grey Fox rose up in the internet forums around this time. The Grey Fox forums came up with predictions on when normalcy would return. The predictions turned out to be eerily true again and again.
In a time when the world lost faith in everything, Grey Fox gave it hope. Soon a worldwide digital cult was born.
As the world found itself back on its feet, the Grey Fox forums had mutated into a new world religion. No one knew who the original Grey Fox was. Their central narrative was that the Cicero-AI conglomerate was an evil entity which had entrapped the original Grey Fox before he could tell the truth to the world.
The original Grey Fox cackled as he saw Rengoku's antics streaming on his old laptop. What the hell had happened to the world! After the sermon, he walked out to a nearby stream to catch fish. Sundays were fishing days for him.
(Disclaimer – this is fiction, exploring the what-ifs, post pandemic. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is coincidental!)