How to Tie a Tie

South Sea Port, New York

Year … 2021

The water is so perfectly smooth this early in the morning; it looks like a sheet of velvet. It’s so sad to see something so peaceful covered in trash. The only seagulls around here are the dead ones floating close to shore. Over the last few years, the sky got so dark it is hard to know what time of day it is. We haven’t seen the sun in way too long. There use to be life at the South Sea Port. Now you wonder if there are even homeless people around. If you see people here, they’re here for a reason. A reason I don’t want to know.

Shipments come in and out once in a while. Most transactions are completed fast. People don’t like it here. The demand for imported A.I. parts is high on the black market. Due to its direct sea access, you get first bids on the imported implants and other brain upgrade coming directly from Japan. With the right money and the connections, you can even get access to military material before it gets in the hands of the superiors themselves, although, some lost their memories doing biz with the wrong people. I would know, I’m one of them…

Few years ago, I replied a hack job ad I should’ve probably never read in the first place. It had to do with some military system build that enhances your vision. The code was kind of difficult but good pay. The ad was named “Silver Fox” and was posted by this guy named the Russian. I’ve heard about the guy at the port but never met him. When I showed up for the job, to test my code they forced me to do it to myself first. Trusting my code, I was ok with it for double the price, no favors for free in my book with these guys. They agreed. One thing none of us knew was, the upgrade actually modifies your iris quite a bit. It gets rid of all the color in your eyes, making them perfectly silver, kinda like fish scales. When the Russian saw it was clearly distinct-able I’d be a civilian walking around with the upgrade, he got nervous. So to cover his track, he got some other hack job to erase our transaction out of my memory. Poor bastard ended up whipping out a decade. All the last ten year of my most intensive learning as a black market coding artist, gone. I never it saw it coming and when I woke up, the only item I had left in my mindmail was a note titled “how to tie a tie” from this guy named Crabshack. I figured he’d know something. If only I knew who did it, maybe I could get some of my memory back.

Born and raised in the peninsula, Crabshack has been working as a fisherman for the last 20years. In the early 2040s, he lost an arm trying to undo a boat anchor cable. He didn’t deserve it – he was trying to help. One day a shipment of military prosthetics came in, because of his local connections, he was able to get his hands on a A.I. arm prosthetic for a reasonable price. That’s actually how we met. Being low on cash trying to afford a nicer neighborhood, I was often browsing the papers for hacking jobs at the port’s arcade. Its good money and no questions asked. Half paid upfront, the other half at delivery. Crabshack’s add was catchy and seemed safe. It was titled “how to tie a tie”. When Crabshacks got his prosthetic arm installed, there was no firmware installed. The military get the part manufactured in Japan but handle the tech down here to keep their secrecy. So basically, he was looking for someone to code the functionality of his prosthetic arm using military code. I was familiar with the code and figured doing him a favor could lead to better connections at the port. Being a fisherman, the main task Crabshack wanted his arm to do was tying fishing knots. He thought naming his job “how to tie a tie” would keep the authorities away from the port.

I’ll pay him a visit and see what he knows about me or project Silver Fox. Dressed up as a homeless, as long as I ware my sunglasses, I get to fly under the radar. People are after me, authorities. I see them. Following me…

… To be continued

CGC Matte Painting guidelines | How to Tie a Tie

The matte painting is an establishing shot of the abandoned port. On the shore dock side we see the arcade shop and multiple abandoned warehouses and crane installations.

1) At the port, one of the commerce is actually desolate arcade. The rest are abandoned boats and boat fuselage.

2) The aspect ratio of your final image should be: One of the aspect ratio available on the Red One camera.

3) The final resolution output of your piece should be: 1920 x ####

4) The piece should incorporate at least one photograph, the plate*.

5) The piece should incorporate at least one 3D element.

– J