The Fading Hearts

Chapter 3: The Fading Hearts

"Good morning Luka," I say, turning around.

"Morning Elsie."

You look so goddamn handsome in this light.

"Did sexbot Potter make you breakfast?" I turn to face him.

"Maybe."

I love you Luka. Please don't leave me for a bot.

"I bet he's very versatile in the kitchen," I mumble.

"You have no idea,"

I want to kiss that smirk away.

"Better than me, huh?" my voice constricts with jealousy.

He shoots me a smug look and murmurs, his voice low and husky "Good day, Elsie."

Hunh. Sexbot Potter improves his mood, too. And he isn't a fertility beast so he can't surprise him with a new pregnancy every few years. And he isn't fat.

"Mummy!" Sudi calls out "I think I'm sick. I can't go to school."

"Jannai," I call out "Please check Sudi's temperature."

"36 degrees." Jannai replies.

"Is he sick?"

"I don't detect any anomalies."

"Homework done?"

"No," Jannai almost sounds excited. There's nothing zie likes better than snitching on the kids.

I go to Sudi's room, pack his back pack and dress him for school.

"I hope detention cures you, young man."

"Detention as a form of punishment for kindergarteners is against the law," Jannai quips.

"Since when?" my voice is incredulous.

"Since the school system was established in the year of our Lord 1659," Huru says as he walks over to the door where Sudi and I are standing.

Zuri chuckles quietly. I know she'd have come up with an even better smart-ass answer, but at the moment she's not in any position to be sarcastic.

"Go to school, you spawns of Luka!" believe it or not, this is my version of 'I love you'.

They all lean in for a kiss and walk towards the the school teleporter. Come to think of it, the teleporter is exactly like apparitioning in Harry Potter, only that there's some complicated science behind this system of transport.

After the kids are gone I walk to the subway and wait for the 8 am teleporter to arrive. I sit next to a figure so ancient I can hardly tell what gender it is. My mind then drifts to yesterday's news. Scientists have apparently discovered two other genders. I am yet to learn the names of the other one hundred and fifty genders and yet there's more? At this point I think they're making these things up.

The old figure seated next to me then leans in and says, "My heart is fading,"

"what?"

"My name is Joshua and my heart is fading."

I curiously inspect the old man. There is nothing that would have made me think that he is male. Or female, for that matter. He in fact looks like a big sack of nothing, if that is possible.

"I'm forty five years old. Can you believe that?" he says.

I let out a chuckle before remembering about an early century disease I'd read about in a medical journal. Alzheimers or something of the sort. Maybe the old man has dementia.

"Listen sir. Do your care takers know where you are?"

"Elsie!" his voice is almost desperate.

"how do you know my name? are you a bot or something? God! The things they invent these days..."

"It's me. Joshua from primary school. We sat together on a field trip once."

I purse my lips and try to remember a Joshua I once sat next to...

"Oh my God! The weirdo!" the words slip out of my mouth before I can stop them "Oh my! I'm sorry about that."

"It's okay. I liked being the weirdo. Now I don't."

"Why?" I ask.

He gestures to himself "Look at me. my heart is fading."

That phrase again.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what you mean by that," I say.

"My heart is fading. Literally." He says.

Before I can ask him to further elaborate he continues,

"I used to be the head of anti-bot club. We resisted using any machine made after 2050."

"But that's when almost all of these amazing innovations came to place!" I'm shocked.

"Exactly. Ever thought how they were able to make them so good?" he asks.

"Uhh. No. I only care about whether they are of any benefit to me."

He shakes his head sadly. "But as you use them you are giving them more power!"

"Giving who what power?" I'm thoroughly confused "and power to do what exactly?"

"The bots-in-command are building humans, Elsie. Most of these machines you rely on so much collect data on how the human brain works exactly."

"Nonsense!" this guy must be out of his mind.

"then how come there are bots for every human brain function? And every activity we do?"

"House systems?" I ask

"logical thinking, emotions..."

"Vourney sytems?" I interrupt.

"trained to experience and manipulate emotions, make you spend more of your money..."

"Sexbots?" my voice is thick.

"one of the most powerful bots. They look like humans, and get to collect data when the human brain is at its most heightened element."

The teleporter arrives, sparing me answers I'm sure I won't like, from the million follow-up questions reeling in my mind. As I'm getting in line Joshua tugs at my arm. His skin has cold papery feel to it.

"They're building a master species right in front of our eyes, Elsie. A Bot-Age Roman, so they call it. With all the abilities of the human and machine combined. When they've succeeded they'll kill us all. I'm dying. And so are all the other rebels like me."

I get into the teleporter and turn to wave him goodbye, but he has disappeared. It's almost as if I imagined him. I then open my bag looking for my bot-lipstick and see something I've never seen before. It's what the early century people called a 'newspaper'. It's even made of real life paper. I've never held paper in my entire life. I'm pretty sure it's illegal in all parts of the world and is only found in museums. Joshua must have slipped it into my bag as we talked. I hold my bag closer and look around to see if there's anyone watching me.

Joshua, a man I haven't seen in thirty years, just made me a... criminal?