“YOU’LL SEE IT FIRST AT HOME! DIRECT ORDER NOW!”
The voice echoed through the streets from the television display inside the glass atrium. M walked the same street within the market district, every day to go to work, same signs different day. But, this time M’s eyes were quickly drawn to the brightly colored figures dancing on the screen denoting something new on the horizon. Their eyes shifting back and forth trying to not forget the moment. Then turning away to continue the trek to their work.
Months go by.
M finally gets the payout they needed the stocks went up and the dividends are finally working. M shuffles around some funds, dumping some assets, they quit. Shifting between freelance and agent work. Stuck at home, trying to figure out what to do next how to get out. The Truman effect. Stuck in your head and working the same type of job.
New employment, new problems, same city. San Gabriel, a conglomeration of collectives, and boroughs, and entirely different cities all sprawled together into one giant piece in the southwest.
Weeks go by.
As they walked down the street with their back to the sun the day felt different. M’s savings has gotten to highest. Enough now to make moves. The time to buy a place to live, and decide where to go. Find a spot plant roots because nothing it seems has bore fruit here.
Again the noise fills the streets, this time the display different, technology newer,
“STARTING AT PAYMENTS OF $249.99 FOR 78 MONTHS”
The voice got louder inside their head as it continued, echoing throughout the street catching new passerby’s curious with inclinations peaking them enough to check out the looped display. Looming in the distance, M continued on their commute to work as they made their way through the metroplex, past 5th street, and 5th avenue. The rumbling carts blended into the music of their headphones.
Most of the warehouse district was emptier these days as they switched systems over, and now they manage a network of independently-autonomous-agents remotely. Making sure they could still connect correctly, or fix logistical issues, or any “critical failures.” Most of what M’s daily activities were comprised of was this. They were after all more mechanically inclined than technical.
The next weeks went by quickly.
Online was filled with chatter of different people using the robots in different ways. And, how NEURAL ETHER TETHER, or N.NET, which was built on top of the NET or, Network Exchange Technologies infrastructure since the technology was open sourced had become significantly easier to access. Everything was getting easier, is easier, with all the extra time, and how they’ve simplified most of labor because for some reason they get better every day, or how life can never truly go back to being the way it was. The only way out was through.
The store now stocked full on of these models. All of different shapes, capacities and sizes. This day, however, was special. A special new humanoid type, Kyros. These models had TwinSouls technology prominently featured on the box’s advertisements, and it sat massively on the display inside the glass atrium. Integration of the Koinonia Protocols, computer vision, and full POV from your portal-able-node or (P.A.N).
“NOW ONLY $10,000!”
M couldn’t believe their eyes how could it have gotten so cheap so quickly? Most of the money saved would have gone to trying to find secure housing outside the city, or leaving finally south, and heading out to the country. Bio-organics were all the rage these days, and finding a decent spot out there and getting to connected to the Net-Structure- Array, or N.S.A for short, made it simple and easy to remove capital from the bosses and viceroys of the state.
The door chimes as their feet gently pass through the threshold. M bristly grabbing the attention of the clerk, and having them open the plexiglass containers holding the unit. Watching them as they shuffle around with the keys all the while M looking gainfully into all the security cameras to make sure they caught their good side.
“How’s your day going?” M asks.
“Cash or Charge?” the clerk responds.
“Cash,” they say.
The street was scolding hot, and everything that day felt like it was melting, and M struggled to lift the damn thing up off the ground. It was very heavy. Cursing for a cart, they summoned a vehicle to pick up them up and take them back to their condominium building.
The box stood in the center of the room.
M’s roommate H walks into the room,
“What the fuck is that,” they say, “are you totally mad?”
M response, “no.”
They both proceed to unpack the box.
Inside a figure sat curled up in fetal position. Surprisingly smooth, no real defining features beyond the low dim glow of a light in the center of the chest cavity. It sat inert absent of any real human features beyond mass and shape. They stood for a moment and looked.
Was this was really $10,000?
They looked at each other, and as if they shared the same thought, frantically, they began searching for a way to figure out how this thing worked first.
It comes to life.
As if breathing for moment, for the first time, and then pausing. Everyone Screams.
“What the hell was that?” H yells,
“Why did you just turn it on?” M shouts back,
“What do you mean YOU brought me HERE!” K says,
“Yea but aren’t I person that decides when that happens?” M wonders aloud to both of them.
“It’s when you opened the box” K says, then K gets up from the floor after collecting the necessary data from the area to figure out how to stand, and in an instant uses their arms to push up from the ground balancing on their legs, totally bipedal. H continues to stare for moment awe-struck by how quickly and fluid everything was.
Unblinking, “There is no way this real,” H murmurs to themselves before walking off probably to smoke a cigarette somewhere.
M ignoring that comment, continued to focus on what was right in front of them. Something that was the key to the future and survival. Time was not on their side, and many things were against them. The lease was up here soon, and the lords had signaled their intent, they were tearing the building down to build a new skyscraper. They already started having fires last week so holding out isn’t going to be an option any more.
M met H on the subway a few springs back. Watched them try to stop a fight between two rival gangs, and took the shot to keep the peace. Knocked ‘em clean out, woulda probably kill ‘em too if M hadn’t broken their fall. M was so pissed from the interactions they knocked out everyone with NET move. M designed a system targeting optical retinal-matrixes, or S.T.O.R.M, and it helped get them back to the an impact center, so they could stop the bleeding, or that might have been it.
“You want to save those head injuries for when they count most, I always say…that and when you go for the shot aim with your forehead then lean into it, right by the hair line so you aren’t totally cooked by the end of it.” M said laughing as they pressed their palm into H’s side.
The next morning, they both wake up to the sound of running water and the clanking dishes. There is a song playing from H’s record collection. The two open their eyes look at each other from across their barrack style living quarters. A subtle sense of terror and joy came over both of their faces as they began to laugh from the gut until it hurt, and M fell from bed.
Getting dressed now, and playing music of a different tune in the bathroom, everything was clearer now with the help of K. It seemed like they were working all night to make sure that the unit was absolutely spotless in the morning, tasks written on the refrigerator, and circled twice, but never gotten back to completed like clockwork.
But, that’s not really why K is here. We all know that.
The digital windows shined with propaganda as the glasses replaced what was visible in front of M.
The world now filled with different instructions, texts, images, and advertisements. Paying for these glasses, at first,was worth every thing now. With the help of K actualizing this dream they are now just few steps closer to manifesting it into reality.
“NEW RELEASE ON THE NET TWINSOULS UPDATE SCHEDULED: JULIO”
Totally forgot to log in yesterday! M’s hands meet their face as they groan in exhaustion about forgetting. We were both so hung up on K that plugging in never happened. Their hand tracing their hair back behind their ears, caressing a scar on the back of their neck.
“TOTAL SYSTEM RESET” Flashes away in an instant.
M goes to work today feeling different, a little happier even, a subtle break in the loop. Everything moves quickly today, mind is set on other things, flashing through forums, and checking out posts about the new release for Twinsouls. We shouldn’t have to worry as much about the water and electricity tokens now. Now, we can focus on mining within the N-NET space.
Rent is due at the end of every week, or else they lock us out of the unit until it is paid, and the number doesn’t go down, it just turns into a storage with your name on the contract until it is paid, and the bill tagged under you on the N-NET. So to get around all of that everyone usually has to pay the entire year at once, or build a space.
The metro was filled today with a variety of people. A group gets on in tactical gear. Private security. Everyone in the train shifts to one side, a single individual walks onto the platform with a Unit-K following behind, this one looked different though.
Eye contact, briefly, just for moment, before the gentleperson seemingly turned away noticing anything beyond their sphere. M became rigid, trying hard to not move, or tremble, or wait to long, or not move at all and seem suspicious.
You can’t take the glasses off you only look away from moment.
M tumbles into the unit, physically drained, K brings food and water to them as if they knew the nourishment was needed.
“The night will be spent on N-NET and the plan is not to log until we hit our quota for today, and everyone is going to be online, so the guild needs to rush the areas. That is the main prerogative we find hottest areas, crowd the resources to try to push deeper into the new environment hopefully we can map it before anyone else, and… PK if you have to but only out of necessity.”
Player Killing is a taboo practice these days, M plugged in to the chair and pulled the AGRs Goggles over their head. Augmented Generative Reality systems logo appearing in front as if it were in the room with them shifting everything quickly into a liminal space.