Dark Dream

13. The London Eye

His pc awaited his return like a king arriving back to his throne. It was no ordinary pc and no standard off the shelf workstation. Hoisting himself into the Emperor Workstation that he'd imported from the States, he felt instantly at home; whole and able-bodied, with his disabilities almost forgotten.

The makers had taken inspiration for its design from the Emperor Scorpion. He'd chosen a matt black finish to reflect his mood. 

The keyboard sat on its own holder and bridged the gap between the chair's armrests. Either side of this he had a small platform for his mouse the touch-screen control panel that fed directly into the body of the workstation, allowing full access to the tilt and turn of the chair and workstation, and operation of the monitors and computer themselves. He felt as if he was at the helm of a Death Star. The low hum of the pc beneath his seat often helped him drift to sleep.

A matching Alienware laptop sat at an angle, behind his chair, on the arched body of the workstation.  He sometimes used this if he decided to go to bed but couldn't sleep, which wasn't very often as he often slept comfortably in the chair. Like a baby, in fact.

A smile came to his mouth as he thought of the  moment he'd first sat in the Emperor Workstation, with its own headrest and heated, vibrating-massage programs. He'd thought of all the Star Trek hacker geeks that would love this bit of kit in their parents' basement. Or would they be called 'script kiddies'? He wasn't sure but made a mental note. Next time he spoke to one he'd be sure to ask.

Pressing the touch-screen panel to his left, the workstation's scorpion-like tail constricted and flexed behind and above him as if it was getting ready to strike at its prey or fire its laser canon at some small speck of a planet. Instead, the tip of its tail descended harmlessly and silently in front of him and offered up a world of pure entertainment. Attached were three large flat panel monitors. Side-by-side, with one in the middle and one either side, they formed a curved panoramic desktop that was great for gaming, films and porn.

The whole rig was programmable and could be instructed to point in any direction he chose. All corners of the room could be observed at the touch of a button. Control was key to his world and happiness. Without it and despite it, his mind seemed filled with a growing paranoia of his own slow decay. These toys were his escape from the reality that had swept over him.

Since being in hospital the desire for drugs, any kind of drugs, had all but gone. Most likely because when he'd been in hospital he'd felt like a pill bottle and the doctors had increasingly looked like well educated drug pushers or pill dispensers. Now he was free of that corrosive system, he wanted no part of drugs: Any drugs, no matter what their legality.

The pills were out and pot was in, had become his official mantra of late. He hated stinking up the place, so he only smoked on the balcony outside and only did so when he really felt he needed to relax.

Behind the screens, the sun and the river offered a great backdrop to his hi-tech system. When he was stoned, he sometimes felt as if the whole machine would come to life, grow legs and walk about the apartment. Other times he got paranoid that it would somehow consume him and absorb him into its black metal skin. This was when his mind took a drip into the dark-side of his imagination. They were scary thoughts but he enjoyed fighting their playful tug and pushed them back into their little box of childhood dreams, safe in the knowledge that they were always there, waiting for his return.

Half listening to Daft Punk, he checked his emails and all felt suddenly right with the world.

Touching more of the symbols on the control pad made his chair swivel back so that he almost felt as if he was lying in the open hand of God. The amount of times he'd slipped into sleep while in this chair went unrecorded. He hardly needed something this hi-tech to check his emails and listen to music but it made life more bearable. Plus, getting wasted while in something worth over 30k had a certain irony which he kind of liked.