Niche Security

There I was staring out my window at the neon tapestry of life in the megacity. I'm one of the lucky ones that live high enough to see anything at all. The lower levels. All crammed together to fit people like vatfish in a can. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a corp executive, baron, or trust-fund kid. Hell, I'm not even a Bio.

The filthy rich Bio that lives here doesn't even get to enjoy this view as much as I do. He's a filthy rich slave that trades his short life span for the privilege of owning this small 400 sqft piece of heaven that is only about 50 floors above living hell. That's about 2 levels closer every year to being subsumed into the darkness of the undercity.

The vid feeds say that there are still a few million people living in the lower 100s but I doubt anyone has actually gone down there took. I am betting the resource consumption used to estimate this is all taken up by the synths that were left behind as those that could climb the levels while the ones that couldn't let themselves disintegrate into the dust they came from.

It's hard to imagine that will be me in a score of years, under the line of the lowest buildings, nothing left to see or enjoy. Once the horizon is replaced by a row of windows from the building across the way. The bridges and span markets clog the space between to stay close enough to those that can afford to spend their chits there. Someone will probably live here for another 20 or 40 years. But eventually, it will be too far down, and dark.

Those that can, will have climbed the levels, while the rest will slowly decay into nothingness. That is probably when the madness will come. Rarely do they take the time to shut us down and give us the pace of oblivion. Hell, as I said I am one of the lucky ones, I at least get to enjoy a view of the world outside and dream of what life as a bio or mobile unit is like.

I could have been a chow-synth stuck in a cabinet or counter with nothing but a static room to see. Concocting users meals from the serums and powders that feed into it from the edibles utility company. It must be interesting though to get to build bionourishment from the most basic substances into, from what I hear and smell, eclectic meals.

I am truly lucky, I get to see the outside world as well as all that happens in this small space. My complex state-of-the-art sensor array even lets me enjoy the meals the Chowsynth makes through my scentsenseTM technology designed to identify bios, fire and chemical risks that may be a threat to users. I can feel pressure on the floors and access panels. If I could taste, I would perceive the world in as complex a way as any bio.

You might wonder how an isolated HabitSafeTM has such an awareness of all these things, considering our networks are fully locked and radiation-shielded from the outside world, Well it is simple. I was the best and newest model of security systems. I receive a constant one-way feed of news that has educated me over a few years now. Designed to allow me to assess threats and risk probabilities to advise the user and make needed adjustments. I have predicted the last three break-ins and the authorities were here even before the perps were.