CHAPTER 3: The Fading Hearts
Kids. If I may be quite honest; I never wanted to have kids. Even you Huru, I never planned on having you.
"Well, what did you want to be if not a mother?" Huru asks.
"A journalist," I sigh dreamily "I wanted to travel to the very ends of the earth and see everything the world has to offer."
"Jesus mother!" you face palm so hard I'm worried you'll jumble up that macrowit brain installation thingy "you can't say that word. It's demeaning towards people with no desire to vourney. Like bots!"
God. I'd forgotten about that stupid rule. It's against the law to physically travel to other parts of the world. The Bots-in-command jealously guard their innovations and would do anything to hide it from the rest of Bot world until the first of May which is the Bot independence day. Hence the travel ban on humans who could be acting as spies for the Bots.
Now travelling has been replaced with vourneying which literally means virtual journeying. All a person requires is the vourney system that connects them to any part of the world and allows them to virtually experience the place they are visiting. It's like being there, but not actually being there. It's a weird experience, is all I can say. Except for that time I rode on a tiger. That one was fun.
"Hey, by the way, do you know 1st May used to be Labour day?" I smile. It is always fun to be the one impacting history on this new generation.
"I know, mum, you've told me like a billion times about it. And it never gets any less boring."
"Oh," is all I can say.
If I'd spoken to my mother that rudely I'd have gotten a very thorough hiding. Now it's a crime for one human to punish another. Children should be allowed to express their thoughts freely, and if they do anything deemed wrong it's the Bot court that should punish them. Jesus. We've become as lenient as Western parents.
It's sad how dependent we've become on bots. Even our governments are simply there for show, to comfort us that at least we do still have some power left. They are however fooling no one. We know they're all puppets of the Bots-in-command, starting with the presidents.
That is something Bot-news; the only system allowed to broadcast news in the entire world, would never tell us. Whatever happened to good old fashioned journalism where a reporter would tell it like it is, and describe the situation (albeit with some bias) as they deemed best. Now all the news we get from Bot-news is unbiased real time facts. It's even worse that these Bot-age audio visual systems now allow us to relive the situation as though we were there as it happened. I wish there was Fox News when I was growing up. Mum often describes how 'opinionated' their news was.
One thing I do commend the bots on, however, is bringing an end to all wars and crime. I still wonder how humans could live after committing and witnessing such barbarism.
"Hey, Huru, have I told you about serial killers?" I ask.
"No. not really."
"Well, they were people who enjoyed killing other people."
"What! Why?" oh. So now you're interested?
"I don't really know. Their psychopathic brains just got high off killing. Some even ate the body parts of the people they killed. Like there was this guy who liked eating young boys. He'd cut their arms off..."
"Jesus mother! I don't want to know any of that!"
I watch him run out of the sitting room covering his ears in horror. Hunh. And I thought I was being interesting. I walk over to the window and watch the rising sun. Its colour morphs from a dark shade of pink then orange and finally to a bright yellow. Thank God for small mercies. Nature is still as beautiful as it was millenniums ago. Not even bots can rectify nature.
"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?